In 1922, Spencer leased the mine to J. A. Reid of Red River with the agreement that Reid would reopen the mine, develop it, and pay Spencer 25 per cent of the return. There is no record of the outcome of this arrangement, but it is unlikely that much work was done. In fact, in 1929, Spencer quitclaimed his interest in the mine to the Blue Bird Mining Company of Montana, of which he was an owner. Ten years later, the mine interest went to Spencer's attorney, Frank Cheetham of Taos, supposedly in payment for legal services. During all this time, the mine property lay empty, the buildings and equipment deteriorating. In 1935, there appeared in the Taos Valley News the account of a party of hikers who visited the Black Copper Canyon:
"The old cabins where the frenzied gold seekers once stayed have almost fallen down and the mill was stripped of everything the erstwhile filching "poachers" could carry away. Not a window was left either in the mill buildings or the crumbling cabins. The tall smoke stack still reared itself above the structure leaning on its guy wires: the only reason for its being there that the thief could not engineer a way to get it down from its high place to spirit it away."
In some way, Spencer retained part ownership in the mine and during the 1940s he deeded interest in the property to Irene Siler, wife of O. B. Siler. There was court action between Spencer and Cheetham over proper ownership, the final outcome being an arrangement by which Mrs. Siler advanced up to $15,000 to Cheetham to help develop the mine.
In 1945, O. B. Siler put the mine back into operation and continued to work it until 1961. He employed a crew which at times included twenty men, some of whom lived in bunkhouses located west of the mine on the Siler property. In 1998, Ina Siler interviewed William Foreman, the son of O. B. Siler's supervisor. He recalled that the stamp mill was put into operation powered by a gasoline engine (called by the miners a "Poppin' Johnny"). Ore was brought to the surface in ore cars which were moved by rails to the hopper above the miff. After being crushed by the stamps, the ore was loaded into dump trucks and hauled to a smelter in Colorado Springs. There is an assay certificate report dated 1945 which listed ore from the third stope as showing 3.34 ounces of gold and 277.9 ounces of silver per ton. This was evaluated as showing values of $116.92 of gold and $330.54 of silver per ton. A further assay report from 1957 showed lesser amounts.
In 1961, Mr. Siler was killed in a mining accident in Carrizozo, NM, thus ending the Black Copper Mine operation.
Property Layout
Mine Shafts Layout
